So the results are in, and NaNoWriDay was a bit of a disappointment. I think in my case it was kind of like trying to run a marathon without any sort of preparation. I could probably have done it, but I should have built up to it.

I ended up with 10,048 words after 18 hours. A great wordcount for a single day, but I’ve done better in less time in the past. In 2009 for NaNoWriMo, my goal was 150,000 words for the month, which meant 5,000 words per day. The first few days were excruciating, but by halfway through the month, I was able to get the 5k done in 2.5 hours. That’s the pace I needed for this.

Anyway, here are the stats, hour by hour:

8:00-9:00 a.m.
Album of the hour: Queen’s Greatest Hits vol 1
Written: 622 words
Total: 622 words

Not the best start, but I took a little time to read back what I had written before. (This was a work-in-progress that was already around 36,000 words, and needed another 50k or so to be finished) Probably should have done that before starting.

9:00-10:00 a.m.
Album of the hour: silence (I didn’t notice that the music ended)
Written: 887
Total: 1,509

10:00-11:00 a.m.
Album of the hour: Requiem for a Dream soundtrack
Written: 758
Total: 2,267

11:00-12:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Robots in Disguise – Get Rid
Written: 1,021
Total: 3,288

12:00-1:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: New Pornographers – Electric Version
Written: 1,556
Total: 4,844

I wrote the most this hour because this was really the only thing I’d planned out extensively.

1:00-2:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Matt Berry – Witchazel
Written: 826
Total: 5,670

At this point I started to think that I should switch my goal to 25k instead of 50k.

2:00-3:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Iron & Wine – The Creek Drank the Cradle
Written: 391
Total: 6,061

3:00-4:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
Written: 613
Total: 6,674

4:00-5:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Great Big Sea – Rant and Roar
Written: 354
Total: 7,028

5:00-6:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: silence again (whoops)
Written: 515
Total: 7,543

6:00-7:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Gorillaz – Demon Days
Written: 385
Total: 7,928

7:00-8:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Gorillaz – Gorillaz
Written: 356
Total: 8,284

8:00-9:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Fanfare Ciocărlia – Iag Bari
Written: 141
Total: 8,425

Worst hour ever, although to be fair, I think this is the point where I let myself go quickly online to check a fact and then spent most of the hour reading Wikipedia.

9:00-10:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: Eve 6 – Eve 6
Written: 259
Total: 8,825

10:00-11:00 p.m.
Album of the hour: silence
Written: 245
Total: 9,070

11:00-12:00 a.m.
Album of the hour: Electric Six – Fire
Written: 713
Total: 9,642

12:00-1:00 a.m.
Album of the hour: Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and boys choir – Carmina Burana
Written: 194
Total: 9,836

At this point it was clear that I probably wasn’t even going to make 15k, even if I kept writing until 8 a.m. as planned. And despite all the iced coffee I was drinking, I was tired. I was so close to 10k that I decided to just read that goal and be done.

1:00-2:00 a.m.
Album of the hour: silence
Written: 212
Total: 10,048

End scene.

Ah well. Next time will be better! But… probably not for a little while.